Permutations
by TheGirlWhoRemembers
Summary: According to the Multiverse Theory, there exists an infinite number of parallel universes. Or, three alternate endings to 1.12, Screwdriver.
1. ONE

**AN: SPOILERS (LOTS OF SPOILERS) FOR 1.12, SCREWDRIVER. DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT YET.**

* * *

Nikki smirked as she walked out of the Phoenix Foundation's headquarters.

She pulled out her phone and hailed an Uber, being careful to input a very specific trip.

When her ride arrived, she got in, sat down, and, as they pulled away from headquarters, reached into a hidden pocket in one of the seats and pulled out another phone.

She turned it on and unlocked it with a code that she had long ago memorized. One that wasn't her ex-boyfriend's birthday.

 **They bought it. I'm in.**

She got a reply as she arrived at her destination.

 **Good work. Shame we had to sacrifice Chrysalis, but sacrifices must be made for the greater good. Await further instructions.**

She replied immediately.

 **Acknowledged, boss.**


	2. TWO

Mac bit his lip as Nikki sauntered into the room. He tapped the glass beside him to activate privacy mode as she came closer to him.

'Last night was a mistake.'

She paused mid-step and hesitated for a moment, before speaking.

'You _really_ didn't think so then.'

He gave a half-snort of laughter.

'You apparently betray me, break my heart, put millions of lives at risk, and now you tease me?'

There was a heavy silence between them, before Mac broke it, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

'I know you're sorry, I know you wanted to tell me. I know you couldn't. I know it was part of the job and I know it was for the greater good, but still…'

She nodded sadly.

'I understand.' She looked down for a moment, all trace of her usual confidence gone, then back up at him. 'You know, I hated the fact that I had to use that bioweapon as my buy-in, but I knew you'd hate it more, when you learned the truth. I didn't know if you'd ever forgive me…but I meant what I said, Mac. I still love you.'

He gave a very wan smile.

'I…I meant it too. Last night.'

They stared into each other's eyes for a long moment.

Eventually, Mac turned away slightly, staring at the glass wall, where only minutes before he'd seen his boss, his friend, be revealed as a traitor.

'I…I think I'll be okay about it, eventually. I think I forgive you, and I trust you, but…I…I just don't know…' He groaned in frustration. 'I'm not making any sense.' He turned back to her. 'Nikki, I just…I just _can't_ right now. Maybe with time…'

She sighed and nodded sadly, before giving him a wan smile.

'Well, I was going to suggest a weekend away at the cabin, but at least that gives us time to get the bullet holes fixed up.'

His expression lightened somewhat and he gave an answering small smile.

'And get a new stove.'

They stood there again in almost-comfortable silence for a bit, before Mac broke it again.

'Will…will you be joining us?'

Nikki shook her head.

'I've still got a job to do, Mac. We got the mole, but the organization's still out there.' She paused for a moment. 'How about we take it one day at a time?'

Mac nodded, a slow, small smile growing on his face.

'Sounds like a good plan.'

'I was always better with them than you.'

'I'm not going to argue with that.'

* * *

Jack, Mac, Riley and Bozer sat around the fire pit, staring into the flames.

The shock of the day's events was finally catching up with them, and with it, the tumultuous emotions that it raised.

'I…I can't believe it was her. I can't believe that Patty would do something like that.' Jack downed half of his beer in a single gulp. 'I know she did it, but…I thought I knew her.'

Mac reached out and put his hand on the older man's shoulder.

'We all thought we did. We all thought she was our friend.' He, too, took a swig of beer. 'I just can't stop thinking _why?_ '

The other three nodded in agreement.

'We're never going to know, brother. She's never going to talk.' Jack gave a snort of bitter laughter. 'We always said she was the best spy in the business. Now we know that's definitely true.'

The others all nodded.

Riley gulped down some of her beer.

'I didn't know her as long as you guys, but I trusted her. Liked her, even. She taught me to fight.' She took another drink. 'I kinda wish I could go a couple of rounds with her now.'

Jack clinked his beer to the young woman's.

'Amen to that.' He looked into the fire. 'She was so upset over Agent Bannister.' He snorted. 'Or at least I thought she was. I don't know what was real anymore.'

The three younger people nodded solemnly, all staring at the flames with a faraway look in their eyes.

In the end, it was Mac who broke the silence.

'I know what's real.' The others all turned to him. 'What we have, here, our friendship, our trust, that's real. I _know_ that. For sure.'

Riley, Jack and Bozer all gave him wan smiles. Jack leaned over and put an arm around him, while Bozer and Riley both bumped their fists to his.

Mac continued.

'But…but I don't know if I want to work for the Phoenix anymore.' He ran a hand through his hair in frustration, and pulled a paperclip from his pocket and started playing with it. 'I don't know if I even want to do government work anymore. Thornton was the mole, and she was our boss. What…what if she used us to hurt people? To further her agenda, whatever that was?' He stared at the paperclip question mark in his hand. 'The higher-ups approved Nikki putting millions of lives at risk to take her down.' He groaned, and Jack tightened his arm around him in comfort. 'I'm not stupid. I know that the government makes questionable decisions in the name of national security. But…I don't know if I can live with being a pawn in those decisions. I mean, I guess I knew I always was, but…to this extent?' He sighed, and when he spoke, his voice was softer, almost ashamed. 'I don't know if I can live with having my trust and my heart broken and reformed and played with, even if it is for the greater good. I'd give my life, if I had to, but…'

He looked up at his friends, who were all nodding. He could see the agreement in their eyes, see the guilt and the sense of responsibility and the _weight_ of it all.

Eventually, Bozer spoke up.

'You know, maybe we could go all Batman.'

Riley snorted.

'What, become vigilantes, not answerable to the law, only justice?'

Jack cocked an eyebrow in thought.

'Hey, it's not a bad idea.'

Mac just shook his head.

'It's got its appeal, I won't lie, but…'

They all shared a wan smile, recognizing the impossibility of that romantic notion, recognizing its problematic nature, and returned to staring at the fire. Mac gazed at the flames through his little paperclip question mark.

'We've got a lot to think about. A decision to make.'

'Amen to that, brother.'

'Oh, yeah, bro, oh, yeah.'

'Yes, yes we do.'

'But…we'll always have each other, right?'

Three resolute nods answered him.


	3. THREE

Riley and Bozer exchanged a glance as they looked through the account records.

'No…'

'It can't be…'

Then, Bozer's brow furrowed as he looked at the account information in front of them. The money trail lead all the way back to the Phoenix. Thornton was Chrysalis. That's what the information in front of them said. Or, that's what it seemed to say…he was an accounting file clerk for years. He'd had to pick up a _lot_ of accounting. He'd picked up enough to know that _that_ just didn't look quite right.

He pointed out the discrepancy to Riley.

'You seeing what I'm seeing?

The hacker's eyes widened. She knew how to follow a money trail. And that money trail didn't end at the Phoenix and at Thornton. That's just what Nikki's mysterious organization wanted them to think.

'We need to keep following the money.'

They frantically started searching again, hope in their chests that they weren't about to be rocked by betrayal.

Riley forced it down.

She had to stay objective.

She had to find proof that it wasn't Thornton, that that was just what the bad guys wanted them to think.

A glance at Bozer showed that he was thinking the same thoughts.

They kept searching.

* * *

As they drove back to the Phoenix Foundation's headquarters, Mac stared out the window, thoughts running through his head at a mile a minute. Bozer, Riley and oversight had called, having found definitive proof, not long after Thornton had showed up. Nikki and the organization had tried to set up Thornton; tried to make her out to be the non-existent mole. Tried to get one of their staunchest enemies locked up, damage the morale of their team, get Nikki back on side with the Phoenix and get him back into her claws.

' _We intercepted 5 encrypted transmissions…'_

' _Chrysalis isn't real…'_

' _I'm sorry, Mac…'_

' _I wanted to tell you…'_

' _I still love you…'_

He glanced over at Nikki, cuffed and in the back of the van with Thornton. He was sitting shotgun as Jack drove.

He looked away again, forcing back the tears in his eyes.

He would not give her the satisfaction of seeing him cry.

Mentally, he cursed and kicked himself.

Twice now she'd fooled him, deceived him.

He was a _genius_.

He was _supposed_ to be smart.

But it seemed that Jack was right.

She turned his brain to mush.

She blindsided him and rendered him stupid.

A fool.

If Bozer and Riley hadn't found that proof, hadn't noticed that the money trail didn't stop where it seemed to stop, hadn't noticed that Thornton was being set up…he'd have bought it.

Bought that she was deep cover CIA.

Bought that his boss, his friend, was a traitor.

Bought that she still loved him.

He'd have taken her back.

And she knew that.

He resisted the urge to slam his fist against the door of the car.

He would not give her the satisfaction of knowing that she'd gotten under his skin.

Again.

He would not.

* * *

Later, that night, Jack cornered Mac as he left the bathroom after a long, long shower (he'd scrubbed himself red and raw, trying to get _her_ off him).

Internally, Mac sighed.

Of course his friends would never buy his excuse of being exhausted and wanting to get an early night. Of course they'd have been concerned when he left their little gathering around the fire pit.

Glancing over at the kitchen, he could see Bozer, Riley and Thornton sitting by the kitchen, drinking what seemed, from the smell, to be Bozer's famous hot chocolate. All three of them were trying to look like they weren't paying attention to him and Jack, to varying degrees of success.

'I'm sorry, Jack. I should have listened you.' Mac gave a bitter snort of laughter. 'You were right. She's my kryptonite.'

Jack reached out and hugged the younger man tightly, then after a long moment, let go and clasped his shoulder instead.

'I think we're all allowed a weakness, brother.'

Jack was staring at the front door, where Sarah had stood just a couple of short days ago.

Mac followed his gaze and nodded sadly.

'And it's always got to be to do with a woman, doesn't it?'

Jack snorted.

'And you're only just working that out now? You missed a few lessons on becoming a man, brother.'

That earned him a smile, even though it was a tiny one. Jack counted that as a win.

The older man gently steered the younger towards the kitchen, where Bozer enveloped him in a hug. Riley handed him a mug of steaming hot chocolate, and Thornton patted him on the shoulder.

Mac took a sip of his hot chocolate, a wan smile on his face.

 _I have my friends._

 _My family._

 _It's going to be okay._

* * *

AN: I'm going to be straight and blunt here- I HATED Screwdriver and feel that it cheapens all the characters and their relationships to boot. I have so many issues with it (i have written a nearly-2000 word analysis/rant), and this is my way of coping with it.

My feelings about this episode and the direction that the show seems to be taking are honestly enough to put me off it entirely. (I know that might be an unpopular opinion, I know that might be unfair, but that is how I feel.)

All of my _MacGyver_ fics currently posted are completely finished, so they will be posted, but obviously will only refer to canon up until 1.11, Scissors. I am actually part-way through another fic right now, but I don't know if that is going to be finished. Since it's a one-shot series, I might just post what I have finished anyway, but I'll see.


End file.
